Cork-shaving machine



3 sheets-Sheet 1.

(N1) Model.) l 4 `J. HUG-HES;

. y CORK SHAVING MACHINE. 1 No. 558,177. Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

(No Model.) 4 B'She'ets-Y-Sheet 2.

J. HUGHES. CORK SHAVING MAGHINE.

No. 558,177. PmntedApr. 14.1896.

ANDREW EGRNIAM. PHOTO-LITHQWASHIN GTUN. D C

3 S. E H G U H J.

(No Madea.)

CORK SHAVING MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 14, 1-896.

WIT/VESSES:

ANDREW B GRAHAM PHDTO-IJTMDWASHINGTONQC `UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

lJOI-INHUGrHES, OF CLEVELAND, OI-IIO.

COFlK-SHAVINGl MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersP'atent No. 558,177, dated April14, 1896.

Application filed December 30,1895. Serial No. 573,772. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HUGHES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in CorkShaving Machines',of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to that class of machines employed in cutting orshaving rough pieces of cork bark into stopples of uniform size andshape for bottles, jugs, dac.; and it consists of the parts andcombination of parts hereinafter fully described and especially claimed.

The object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive, simple, anddurable machine of the class designated above which forms the stoppleswith great rapidity and absolute uniformity.

My machine is automatic in action and will produce stopples of varioussizes by simply moving the knife.

That my invention may be seen and fully understood by those skilled inthe art, reference will be had to the following specification andannexed'drawings, forming a part thereof, in which* Figure 1 is a frontelevation of my machine; Fig. 2, a plan view of the same 5 Fig. 3, anend elevation and partial section on lines Fig.

1; and Fig. 4, a transverse vertical section on lines y y, Fig. 1. i

Similar figures of reference designate like parts in the drawings andspecification.

The bed 1 is supported by the legs 2, and the main driving-shaft 3 ofthe machine is journaled to suitable bearings carried by said legs. Thepulley 4, fast to one end of the shaft 3, is driven by a belt (notshown) and in turn revolves said shaft. The pulleys 5 and 6 are fast onthe shaft 3 between the legs 2. The brackets 7, 8, and 9 are bolted tothe top of the bed 1 and afford bearings for the shafts 10 and 11.. Thebracket 8 extends entirely across the top of the bed 1. Fast to theshaft 10, between the brackets 7 and 8, is the pulley 12, connected withthe pulley 5 by the belt 13. The friction-wheel 14 is fast on the shaft10 outside of the bracket 8. The shaft 10 also carries the pinion 15,keyed or otherwise attached thereto, between the pulley 12 and thebracket 8. The stud 16 is bolted to the bracket S and extends to theleft to receive the loose gear I17, meshing with the pinion 15. The cam18 is rigidly attached to the right side of the gear 17 and has the samecenter as said gear.

Tight to the free terminal of the shaft 11 is the toothed wheel 19,embraced by the split arm 20, working loosely on said shaft. The pawl 21hooks over the wheel 19 to engage the teeth thereof and is pivoted tothe arm 20. The post 22 projects from the left face of the gear 17 andis connected to the free terminal of the arm 20 by the rod 23. Theratchet mechanism above described causes the shaft 11 to describeone-eighth of a revolution every time the gear 17 rotates, or thedistance between two adjacent teeth on the wheel 19, there being eightsuch teeth. j

The annular racks 24 24a are spaced and keyed or otherwise rigidlysecured to the shaft 11 between the brackets 8 and 9. The racks 24 24:Lhave perforations near their peripheries to receive the eight spindles25. The spindles 25 are capable of both a rotary and lateral movement inrelation to the racks 24 24a. Each spindle 25 is provided on the endoutside of the rack 24 with the small frictionwheel 26, tight on saidspindle, and on the end outside of the rack 24a with the chuck 27. Thechucks 27 have sharp spurs on their faces with which to hold the cork.Opposite each chuck 27 is the center 28, attached to the adjacent faceof the disk 24h, which is also fast on the shaft 11, inside of thebracket 9.

The spindles 25 have the rigid collars 29, located about midway betweenthe racks 24 and 24a, and the spiral springs 30 bear against adjacentsides of the rack 24 and said collars, thereby normally forcing saidspindles forward as far as the Wheels 26 will permit. The small wheels26 are located back of and adapted to be brought into contact with thelarge wheel 14, one after the other, through the medium of the ratchetmechanism before described, and rapidly revolved during the continuationof such contact.

The shaft 31 has its bearings in the bracket 8 and the box 32 at therear of the machine. The arm 33 is rigidly connected to the terminal ofthe shaft 31 outside of the bracket 8,

while the arms 34 34 are fixed on said shaft` IOO between its bearings.The arms 34 are spaced and their forward ends connected by the rod 35,the outer ends of which engage the notches 36 in the peripheries of theracks 24 24. The arm 33 has the roll 37 on its forward end and is heldin a somewhat elevated position by the spring 38, with said roll bearingagainst the under side of the cam 18. The spring 33 is pinned to theoutside face of the bracket 8. As the cam 18 revolves the arm 33 isalternately depressed and elevated, and by rocking the shaft 31 causesthe rod 35 to be freed from one pair of notches 36 and engage the nextpair. The parts just described constitute the latch mechanism.

The feed-rest 39 is attached to the rear of the bed 1 and serves as aguide over which the rough pieces of cork pass before being seizedbetween the rear chuck 27 and the center 28. The rearwardly-convexfinger 40 is bolted to the rear of the bed l to the right of the collars29 and has a beveled face contiguous with a part of said collars at alltimes, said face being beveled from below upward to the left. The officeof the linger 40 is to drive the spindles 25 to the left against theresiliency of the springs 30, when the collars 29 encounter said finger,for the purpose of causing the chuck 27 next below the rear chuck todrop a finished stopple and said rear chuck to receive a rough piece ofcork.

The bearings 41 4l depend from opposite sides of the bed 1 to carry theshaft 42, on which the pulley 43 and the circular knife 44 is secured.The belt 45 connects the pulley 43 With the pulley 6. The knife 44 maybe adjusted forward or backward on the shaft 42 to increase or decreasethe size of stopple which it is desired to produce. The shaft 42 and theknife 44 are journaled so as to bring the latter at an angle with thefront of the bed 1 instead of parallel therewith, in order to give thenecessary taper to the stopples. The knife 44 operates through anopening in the corresponding side of the bed 1 and has the shield 44nover it.

After the feed-rest 39 has been filled with rough pieces of cork, onebehind the other, and the shaft 3 with its coacting parts set in motion,the complete operation of my machine is as follows: As the gear 17revolves, the ratchet mechanism turns the shaft 11 with attachedmembers, the latch mechanism operated by the cam 18 alternatelyreleasing and engaging the racks 24 24, all as hereinbefore described,and the finger 40 causes the rear spindle-chuck 27 to open and closeupon one piece of rough cork after another as they are pushed forward inthe rest 39. The rough cork held between each rear chuck 27 and center28is carried over to the rapidly-revolving knife 44, at which point itis itself rotated at a high rate of speed by the frictionwheels 14 and2G. While the pawl 21 engages another tooth on the wheel 19 the piece ofcork in contact with the knife 44 is shaved into a finished article. Thenished stopple is held by the engaging-chuck 27 until the finger 40 isreached, when said stopple is released, and after one-eighth of arevolution of the shaft 11 a rough piece occupies the place of theformer. Vhile the rear chuck 27 is seizing a piece of rough material thefront chuck is assisting at the completion of a finished piece, the thenupper chucks have unfinished pieces in their grasp, two of the lowerchucks have finished pieces in their grasp, and the chuck next below therear one has just dropped its piece. As the front spindle 25 passesbelow the center, its wheel 26 clears the wheel 14 and said spindleceases to revolve and the wheel of the next spindle comes in contactwith said wheel 14. Thus but a single spindle revolves at any one time.

More or less than eight spindles 25 may be employed in my machine bychanging the ratchet-and-latch mechanism to correspond.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The combination in a cork-shaving machine, of notched racks and adisk fast to a shaft, a revoluble shaft carrying a pinion and afriction-wheel, a stud carrying a gear meshing with said pinion, a camfast to said gear, ratchet mechanism operated by said gear for rotatingsaid rack-shaft, a latch mechanism operated by said cam for alternatelyengaging the rack-notches, spring and finger actuated spindles carriedby said racks capable of holding and releasing pieces of cork betweensaid disk and adjacent ends of said spindles, and friction-wheels onsaid spindles arranged to alternately engage the frictionwheel on saidrevoluble shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination in a cork-shaving machine, of notched racks and adisk fast to a shaft, a revoluble shaft carrying a pinion and afriction-wheel, a stud carrying a gear meshing with said pinion, a camfast to said gear,

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ratchet mechanism operated by said gear for

